As an owner/seller you may request a Form F payment certificate from the strata corporation at any time. Sadly, many sellers do not request the certificate in advance of the transaction and are left with little or not time to investigate claims of money owing to the strata corporation on the form. Sellers should request their forms well in advance of the conveyance. A Form F is valid for 60 days, and cannot include the claim of damages or insurance deductible costs. The only way to avoid surprise claims and costs at the time of transaction is for the seller to request the form as early as possible.

I've done plenty of video blogs on the proper way to market your home to get it sold for maximum selling price. Thought I'd have a bit of fun with this one and do a video on how NOT to sell your home. All these critical marketing errors are unfolding on the MLS on a daily basis. Sure you can still sell your home if you're making one or more of these mistakes but I can guarantee you are leaving money on the table and not achieving anywhere near full market value. In no particular order here they are:No Photos or bad low quality photos.Limited viewing times.Tenanted on a long term lease.Asking a buyer to assume an existing tenancy.Listed in the wrong category or sub category on MLS data input.

How parking spots are designated in a Strata can be confusing. Thankfully starting Jan 1, 2014 the Management companies are going to start disclosing how the parking is designated on the Form B information certificate. In most cases parking is designated as common property or limited common property which is then further designated for exclusive use or on some kind of a lease to the unit owner. The parking can also be part of strata lot which is the case in many townhouse complexes that have a private garage or carport or finally it can be designated as a separate strata lot.

I get several calls a month from potential clients asking me about foreclosures and court ordered sales. Is there a deal to be had? How does the process work? Where do I get a list of properties that are for sale? Where do the court proceedings take place? These are just a few of the most common questions I get. So here's a summary on how foreclosures are sold in BC. If you want to find out more just give me a call or drop me an email.

Real estate prices in the lower mainland can turn on a dime and it's one of the reasons I love this business so much. You never know what the market will bring. One minute you’re checking your cell phone to make sure you don't have your phone on mute because of the lack of calls on your listings. The next minute you’re getting multiple offers and setting new high price marks for the neighbourhood or complex. That's what happened to me last month with the sale of a nicely renovated older town home in West Richmond. It goes to show how Real Estate activity can vary greatly according to location, type of home and price range. One area of the market can be robust while another segment in the same area can be stone cold!

I was listening to the Bill Good show on CKNW a few weeks ago and he was talking about the Real estate market in the lower mainland.  The Real estate board of Greater Vancouver had just release its Summer market statistics showing that sales volume was up over 40% from last Summer. He opened up the phone board and as always many people phoned in saying they thought the price of Vancouver homes had been rising at an unsustainable pace over the past 15 years. Now don't get me wrong Vancouver is far from cheap! However when you look at what the price RE has done over the past 15 years you would realize we've had some dramatic price increases followed by some declines mixed in with prices treading water for awhile. I often ...

The 2 most common remarks I get from home owners when I'm out delivering a few flyers on a sunny afternoon are: "I hear the market is pretty poor these days and it's a bad time to sell!" and "Thanks for the flyer but we have a Realtor".

I was watching an interesting documentary on PBS.org about saving for retirement and how many people are simply falling short. One of the big reasons is that they are investing in the wrong vehicles such as high fee mutual funds and actively managed portfolios through a broker. Many people are finally starting to realize there is a much better way and that's to index invest through low cost ETF's (Exchange Traded funds) You simply buy the broad index like the S&P 500 or the TSX 60 and let time and compounding do it's thing. Many people do the same thing with Real Estate. They try and over complicate things and time markets waiting for some magical time when everything lines up. Guess what? There will never be a time when all the li ...

  Most successful business people and athletes will tell you that when they first started out they simply targeted people who were already successful in their chosen field and copied much of what they did to become successful.  In the stock market it's called "follow the money". I think people who are looking to list and sell their homes can do the same thing by looking at the way Realtors sell their own homes. I can tell you that there are a number of common characteristics that Realtors home sales have so here they are.   1. They price it properly from day 1 and rarely have to reduce the price.   2. They usually sell in less than 45 days. This is because they are priced properly and in the game as opposed to over ...

It never ceases to amaze me how few owners take the time to attend their Strata's Annual General Meeting (AGM). Attendance at the typical Vancouver condo AGM runs at about 40 or 50%. Some pretty important matters can get voted on at your AGM including the passing of some pretty extensive and expensive special levies. I just had a case where the strata passed a $40,000 special assessment for each owner and they only got about 40% of the owners to turn up and vote! If you can't make your AGM in person you can simply fill out a proxy to cast your vote. Remember you have no right to complain about how your complex is being managed if you don't take the 90 min each year to simply show up at your AGM.